1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle control apparatus and method therefor, and particularly, although not exclusively, to an automobile provided with at least two computers, and a transmission path between the computers over which data may be transmitted.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional automotive data processing apparatus only regulates the form of transmission and reception of data between a plurality of computers, the format of the data for messages including data, the structure of an LSI for transmission and reception and the types of data (e.g., engine temperature, number of revolutions, load), as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 195453/1986 but the arrangement for controlling an automobile using such data has not previously been considered.
In the prior art, a controlling method, a method of transmitting and receiving data, the type of data and the timing for transmitting and receiving data so as to actually control an automobile have not been taken into consideration.
In a system of distributing computers and connecting those computers in a network so as to control an automobile, it is desirable that a plurality of computers exchange the results of calculation or simultaneously operate in accordance with the content of the control data. In the prior art system, however, control is restricted to each computer and the benefit of a computer network system is not used to best advantage.
It is an object of the present invention to operate distributed computers which act as controllers in cooperation with each other so that they are all similarly controlled.